Despite being ordered by the
government to vacate the Wanni, UN
officials have been prevented from
leaving LTTE-controlled areas by
peaceful civilian protests. Photo
shows a UN heavy vehicle convoy cut
off by a group of protestors.

The Hambantota Port Development Project is
facing suspension by end of September as a
result of a serious cash flow crisis due to
the government's failure to pay the
contractor his dues.

The government owes the contractor, China
Harbour-Sinohydro Consortium US$ 117mn for
the work completed but is yet to make
payment despite repeated appeals, it is
learned.

On September 3, the China Harbour Consortium
wrote to Ports Minister Chamal Rajapakse
they will be compelled to suspend work on
the project by September 30 unless the US$
117 million (approx Rs. 12.5 billion) due is
paid.

The Consortium while thanking the Minister
for his support and assistance to the
project has said they will 'be compelled to
suspend work if the outstanding amount due
to ChinaHarbour
is not made available to us by 30th
September 2008.'

The local agent for the Consortium is
businessman Prabath Nanayakkara who is also
the agent for the Colombo-Katunayake
expressway.

"Since His Excellency the President unveiled
the commencement plaque at the inauguration
ceremony last October, the construction
works have been proceeding according to the
planned schedule and we have achieved an
operational output of US$ 60 million..," the
letter states.

It has further stated that pursuant to the
contract the Contractor should be entitled
to a 25% of the contract sum as advance
payment which amounts to approximately US$
90 million to ensure the smooth
implementation of the project.

"However we regret to inform that upto now
we have only received US$33 million. The
balance accumulated payments due to China
Harbour from the Employer amounts to US
dollars 117 million. As a result the
Contractor is now experiencing a serious
cash flow deficit and will be reluctantly
compelled to suspend work if this problem is
not addressed as a matter of priority," the
Consortium has written.

The letter also said, "China Harbour have
made every effort to achieve the current
progress and have made considerable
investments in equipment and other resources
and are not in a position to shoulder this
burden of a cash flow deficit any longer.
Therefore we wish to inform that we will be
compelled to suspend work if the outstanding
amount due to China Harbour is not made
available to us by September 30 , 2008."

It is learned the Minister's statement was
recorded by Sub Inspector Ranatunge at the
Longden Place headquarters of the Bribery Commission.

The Minister faces allegations of amassing
assets valued at nearly Rs 450million which
are unaccounted for. It is alleged the
Minister who isnicknamed 'Raththaran' has
not submitted an assets declaration since
entering Parliament in the year 2001.

There was no information available whether
he pays income tax or has a tax file in the
Inland Revenue Department.

The Minister told The Sunday Leader last
month when questioned on an assets probe
against him that there was no such probe and
that he had never been summoned by the
Bribery Commission to make a statement.

The Sunday Leader reported at the time the
Minister had sought postponements on two
occasions when summoned by the Commission.

It was also reported that the Minister was
given a final date in September to come
before the Bribery commission to record a
statement.

The recording of the Minister's statement
also comes in the backdrop of

allegations by previous investigating
officers that there were attempts to stifle
the investigation by those in authority.

The government last week informed UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that comments
made against him by the Peace Secretariat
Chief and Secretary, Human Rights Ministry,
Rajiva Wijesinha did not reflect the views
of President Mahinda Rajapakse or that of
his administration.

The disassociation and an expression of
regret was communicated to the UN Secretary
General through the Head of the Sri Lankan
UN Mission in New York, H.M.S. Palihakkara
last week after Wijesinha launched a
scathing attack on Moon.

Wijesinha's attack came after the UN
Secretary General made a statement on the on
going fighting in the north and the need to
ensure the protection of civilians in the
conflict zone.

Wijesinha in his response while criticising
the UNSG for making wrong statements on the
conflict had said of Moon that 'perhaps with
knowledge will come wisdom.'

Informed sources said President was visibly
angry at Wijesinha's attack on the UNSG and
called for the statement, which was posted
on several Government websites to be
withdrawn.

The President also issued a directive for
Ministry Secretaries not to make public
statements without proper authorisation.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has decided not
to increase the retirement age of public
servants to 63, The Sunday Leader learns.

Informed sources said a proposal was mooted
by Public Administration Minister Karu
Jayasuriya to increase the retirement age of
public servants to 63 years in keeping with
worldwide trends but the President has
decided not to proceed with the
recommendation at this point of time.

It is learned the proposal was for the
President in his capacity as Finance
Minister and Jayasuriya as Public
Administration Minister to submit a joint
cabinet memorandum recommending the new
retirement age.

The President it is learned had taken the
view the implementation of such a proposal
will lead to protests from trade unions and
also stall the promotion prospects of other
public servants.

The sources also said the President took the
view such an amendment would need a two
third majority in Parliament and enabling
legislation to increase the retirement age
of judges and that this was not the
appropriate time to do so.

The retirement age of a High court judge at
present is 61 years while an Appeal Court
judge's retirement age is 63 and that of a
Supreme Court judge 65 years.

The sources said if the retirement age of a
High Court judge is to be 63 years,
adjustments would also have to be made for
Appeal Court and Supreme Court judges and
the Government was not in a position to go
through such a process at this time.

Official Police records
for the year 2007 reveal there were 1229
cases of abductions and kidnappings reported
of which 1195 have been described as‘true
cases’.

The official Police
‘grave crime abstract for the year for whole
island from 1.1.2007 to 31.12.2007' states
that of the true cases plaints were filed in
227 while the accused were unknown in 218
complaints.

The record also states of
the complaints received, there were mistakes
of law or fact in 27 instances.

It is further stated in
14 cases convictions were recorded while
there were acquittals in five cases.It is
also stated that there were 945 cases
pendingat present.

The records also show
that there were 1397 cases of rape and
incest for the year 2007 of which 11391 were
true cases while there were 1663 cases of
homicide and abetment to commit suicide.

The police have also
recorded 366 cases of cruelty to children
and sexual exploitation of children for the
year under review.

The records further state
there were 475 cases of unnatural offences
and grave sexual abuse.

An alarming 18,635 cases of house
breaking and theft were also recorded

The Government's failure to address the
grievances faced by the railway employees
was the result of the proposed one day token
strike and according to the JRSTUF more than
10,000 railway employees are to join the
strike.

"Although Railways Minister Dulles
Alahapperuma was keen on solving the issues
faced by the railway employees the delay in
resolving the issue was because of the
lethargy of the Salaries and Cadre
Commission, the Public Service Commission,
the Treasury and the Ministry of Public
Administration," Secretary, JRSTUF Sampath
Rajitha told The Sunday Leader.

According to Rajitha, the Salaries and Cadre
Commission for the past few years has failed
to rectify the salary anomalies faced by the
railway employees and the Treasury's failure
to allocate money for the distress loan
funds.

"The railway employees since July 2007 were
unable to obtain distress loans, an
entitlement, as the Treasury had not
released funds. How can the government say
that it does not have money to pay distress
loans when the government is spending money
unnecessarily? Apart from this the Public
Administrations Department has failed to pay
the railway employees the disturbance
allowance. Why do government departments
inconvenience employees so much," queried
Rajitha.

Accusing the Salaries and Cadre Commission
for their lethargic attitude in resolving
the salary issues in government departments
Rajitha said that most of the public sector
unrest was due to the sluggish approach of
the Salaries Commission.

"The sole responsibility for public sector
agitation should borne by the Salaries and
Cadre Commission. The proposed one day token
strike starting tonight would hinder 60% of
the railway service tomorrow and in the
event the said government departments fail
to address our demands at the earliest we
would be compelled to take stern trade union
action in the weeks to come," said Rajitha.

The Sri Lankan government last week
reaffirmed its commitment to a political
settlement and said the military engagement
was purely to eliminate terrorism.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama in an
interview to The Hindu newspaper last week
said that subjugation of people by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a
terrorist organisation cannot be tolerated.

"Democracy is the only answer we have for
sustainable peace, and terrorism in the
hands of the LTTE has to be eliminated in
order to sustain that progress for the
people of the island as a whole."

The Minister had also said that the
negotiations between the government and the
LTTE ended in a failure, as the latter was
not committed to the peace process.

He had also commented on the humanitarian
situation in the north.

"We are monitoring the situation on a daily
basis and taking every meaningful step
towards minimising the inconveniences that
the community is experiencing," he had said.

"We are doing everything in the north to
facilitate their daily life. We know it is
not normal. But these are interim phases
that one has to go through. The government
is very mindful of protecting civilian
population. We do not want them to be
falling into the hands of the LTTE, who take
them in order to mobilise, or in order to
seek protection out of them for the LTTE-hideouts."

President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out
the possibility of an early presidential
election.

The President is legally entitled to call
for a presidential election after completing
four years in office and will be entitled to
do so in November 2009.

However the President has last week informed
party seniors and senior Presidential
Advisor Basil Rajapakse he does not intend
to curtail his first term by two years and
that the SLFP should prepare for a general
election, which is due by April 2010.
Rajapakse has said the people elected him
for a six year term and he intends to honour
that mandate.

The President had stated this position after
he was urged by party seniors to hold the
presidential election before a parliamentary
election to capitalise on his personal
popularity as opposed to that of the UPFA,
which will be tested at a general election.

UN and staff from other relief agencies have
been prevented from moving out of the Wanni
by public protests blocking the roads, UN
officials in Colombo
said.

No UN staff was able to move to Vavuniya in the
past two days due to the protests.

“Our staff has been blocked by peaceful
protestors,” UN spokesperson Gordon Weiss
told The Sunday Leader. The protestors had
handed over a list of concerns, Weiss added.

“We have undertaken to pass the concerns to the
Secretary General which we have done.” He
said that UN agencies were in discussions
with the protestors and organizers of the
protests in an attempt to secure passage to
UN staff out of Wanni.

Protests erupted near UN offices and on the A9
at Kilinochchci and Murgunandi about 10 km
south on the A9 on September 11, preventing
convoys of vehicles from UN and other relief
agencies from moving south. The protestors
had begun gathering near the offices from
early as 6.00 am on Friday morning. The relief agencies had began
relocation the day before on September 11
following a government directive on
September 8.

The government said that the Tigers were
preventing UN and NGOs from moving out of
the Vanni and had ordered them not to remove
heavy vehicles and machinery out of the
Vanni.

“According to informed sources, LTTE has issued
terrifying notices to officials of the
organizations, not to remove their vehicles
and equipments if they leave Wanni,” the
Defence Ministry said and added that there
was a possibility that the Tigers may not
allow the heavy vehicles and machinery to be
removed.

The Defence Ministry has said that the Tigers
were using the heavy machinery to build
bunkers and earth bunds in the Vanni.

“The LTTE is believed to have used some of
the INGO vehicles to construct defences and
dig trenches stretching as far as 20km to
prevent the Army from advancing.” Earlier
it said that 38 vehicles belonging to
Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) was
commandeered by the Tigers. Though requests
were made by the NGO to the Tigers to
release the vehicles, it is not clear
whether they were returned to the NPA.

Meanwhile the Tigers accused the government
was paving the way for genocide quoting
letters handed over to UN organizations by
protesting civilian organizations.

“Several appeals were handed to the UN
resident representatives by Civilian Based
Organizations as well as Teacher
Associations. The appeals mostly said that
the Sri Lankan Government is ordering the
international agencies out as it readies for
the final stage of the genocide of the
Tamils,” the Tiger Peace Secretariat said.

The protestors had told UN officials in
Kilinochchi that the presence of
international agencies was essential not
only to look after the humanitarian needs
but also for the protection of the
civilians.